There's a great video on Youtube summarizing what is so awful about the monetization practices being put into use today: […]
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There's a great video on Youtube summarizing what is so awful about the monetization practices being put into use today:
https://youtu.be/g16heGLKlTA
What is being done today is on a whole different level from a straightforward commercial transaction like buying an expansion pack (or even a speech pack), and is even very different from the arcade game model in the 70s through 90s. The major difference is that, previously, you generally knew what you were getting. In arcades, you were spending a quarter to play until you got a game over; if you could get skilled enough, you could play for a long time on that quarter. At home, you were spending XX dollars to get an expansion to a game you enjoyed or additional content... I'd actually put most DLC in this same category; it's clear what you are getting, and whether that's worth it to you depends on what you want.
The stuff being done today is predatory. Things like using multiple types of in-game currency as a "layer" between real currency and content, and then selling in-game currency in "packs" that are just slightly off from the costs of things (for example, all content is sold in multiples of 100 units of currency, but you can only buy packs of 95 units of currency), or tying paid content to a "loyalty" score that requires you to play X days in a row in order to retain the content you paid for.
It's easy to say, well, just don't play these heavily monetized free-to-play games... but this kind of predatory monetization works extremely well and is basically "free money" for publishers, and if people don't take a stand now, it's going to find its way into games of all types.